JKFA never wanted me in team: Wadoo

ABID KHAN


Srinagar, May 8: Valley’s international footballer, Mehraj-ud-Din Wadoo Friday said that J&K Football Association never wanted him in the Santosh Trophy squad and had kept his name only for formality.
“The JKFA was never serious to include me in the team. They called me on the day when trials started. If they had been serious then they would have informed me in advance like they did with other players. I told them not to include my name in squad as I had groin injury,” Wadoo told Greater Kashmir.
“Despite injury, I would have loved to interact with the players in the camp and share my experience, but the JKFA officials never approached me. Doctors have advised me to stay away from playing, but I could perfom warm up and cardio exercises,” he said.
The current Indian international player was also critical of JKFA on sidelining senior talented players and including almost all new faces in the squad.
“I don’t know what criteria they have employed in selecting the squad. All the talented senior players have been sidelined and kept away from trials. Even if I along with Ishfaq would be in the squad, it still will not make any difference. Football is a team game and individual performances doesn’t matter much,” Wadoo said.
Meanwhile, Wadoo has been included in the national camp. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday announced squad of 27 players that would attend the national camp at Delhi from June 22 to July 7. The camp will be held in order to prepare players for the team’s tour to Portugal. The squad has three goalkeepers, ten defenders, ten midfielders and four forwards.
Goalkeepers: Arindam Bhattacharya, Subrata Paul, Subhashish Roy Choudhary
Defenders: Govin Singh, Gouramangi Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Surkumar Singh, Anwar, Deepak Mondal, NS Manju, Mohanraj, Rakesh Masih.
Midfielders: Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Meharjuddin Wadoo, Syed Rahim Nabi, Renedy Singh, Baldip Singh, Jagpreet Singh, NP Pradeep, Steven Dias.
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Sushil Singh, Baichung Bhutia, Abhishek Yadav.


published in greater kashmir on June 9 : http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=9_5_2009&ItemID=6&cat=4